After a record breaking 104 days, the general strike in the Darjeeling hills district of West Bengal by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) which is demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of West Bengal, was called off on September 27, following an appeal by Union home minister Rajnath Singh. Singh said that Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba will convene a meeting of all parties to discuss the GJM’s demands and all related issues within a fortnight. 

Although now mercifully called off, the general strike (bandh) which was provoked by chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s May 16 promulgation making Bengali language learning compulsory in all schools statewide, has severely damaged the economy of the Darjeeling hills which are a hub of tea production, tourism and private education. According to the West Bengal Chamber of Commerce, the loss of revenue from suspended tea production and tourist footfalls may well exceed Rs.1,200 crore. 

Education too has suffered a severe setback. The scenic Darjeeling hills with their bracing climate, host 52 vintage boarding schools which attract students from across the country and from neighbouring Nepal, Thailand, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Among them St. Paul’s (estb.1864), St. Joseph’s, North Point (1888), Loreto Convent (1846), Goethals Memorial (1907), and Dr. Graham’s Home (1900), are all ranked among the country’s top 100 schools in their categories. Given that there was a similar agitation in 2013 which closed down Darjeeling for 42 days, school principals and educationists fear that the recent bandh will lead to further loss of confidence among households who send their children to boarding schools in Darjeeling. 

“After the 2013 agitation and prolonged closure of schools, 35 percent of enrolled children exited our schools, never to return. The second bandh in four years and second interruption of children’s education will witness withdrawals once again. It will take many years to repair the damage,” says Robindra Subba, director of the co-ed CISCE and CIE (UK)-affiliated Himali Boarding School, Kurseong (estb.1978), ranked West Bengal’s #1 co-ed boarding school in the latest EducationWorld India School Rankings 2017-18. 

On September 14, the Bimal Gurung-led agitation hit a new low when a vehicle carrying school children was vandalised in Kalimpong. Stones were pelted, smashing a window. At the time (September 14) Gurung implored children to be prepared to sacrifice “just a year of school for the future in the form of Gorkhaland”. But according to Subba, the loss of “just a year” is not a small sacrifice. “It can scar them for life. Students must be exempted from the purview of political movements,” he says.

Now that the unprecedented 104- day protest which had paralysed all activities including education, has ended, school managements and teachers are scrambling to complete the syllabus for the classes X and XII board examinations — now only six months away — and formalities such as online registrations. 

With all Internet services in the hills suspended during the bandh, online registrations have not been possible. However, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has assured schools that it will extend the dates for online registration of candidates from the Darjeeling hills until end September without payment of any late charges. 

Meanwhile, the hopes of school leaders in the Darjeeling hills, which is fast losing its sheen as a renowned education hub, are reposed in the Gauba committee. In 2013 in response to the agitation for autonomy for the Gorkha speaking majority of Darjeeling district, the West Bengal government established the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) with wide powers of self-administration in the region. But quite obviously the Mamata Banerjee government has scant respect for the GTA whose opinion was not solicited when she imposed Bengali as a compulsory language statewide.

Therefore this time round the GJM is unlikely to be mollified with a sop promising greater autonomy. Consequently until the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland is conceded, similar agitations are on the cards and Darjeeling’s once famous schools will continue to suffer loss of reputation. 

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)